The schedule for race day at the 2018 Malaysian Grand Prix has been modified, due to expected heavy rain. The entire day has been moved 2 hours earlier, in an attempt to avoid a downpour expected to arrive at around 3pm local time on Sunday afternoon.

The change had been requested by the riders in the Safety Commission on Friday evening. Heavy rain on Saturday helped make their point: a torrential downpour starting in FP4 caused qualifying to be delayed. The rain in FP4 caught several riders out quite badly, with Jordi Torres falling and injuring his wrist, Maverick Viñales crashing and destroying his Yamaha M1.

As the paddock waited for the start of a delayed Q1 session to start, IRTA, who are in charge of the running of each MotoGP round, issued a new schedule, moving the entire program back 2 hours earlier, meaning the MotoGP race will now start on Sunday at 1pm local time, instead of 3pm.

The new schedule is as follows (click the link to convert to your local time):